I totally agree. I’m not saying audience reaction should shape your opinion or my opinion.

But as a film fan and as a discussion point I think it’s still interesting to at least recognize and talk about how there can be a divide between critical and audience reaction. Sometimes it adds to a film or director’s legacy and it can go both ways — sometimes there are films that get ravaged upon initial release by critics (like the original Blade Runner or so many poorly reviewed comedies like Dumb and Dumber) but become iconic with time because of audiences reacting differently to them. Rear Window was initially considered by critics to be a massive disappointment and one of Hitchcock’s lesser works and was a box office disappointment. Now it’s routinely ranked as not only his best work but in some cases the greatest film of all time (I believe a British poll ranked it as such not long ago).

So, I’m not arguing that it’s important per se. I just find it interesting to talk about I suppose.

I’m getting downvoted and I think a lot of people are just reading the title and getting defensive because they like Rian Johnson but I’m not bashing the guy. I like a lot of his work, or even pieces of the films I’m less fond of like Last Jedi.